Today, people are heavier than ever before. Poor diet and physical inactivity, two major contributors to obesity, are closing in on tobacco use as the leading preventable causes of death in the United States, according to a report in March in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Also, since people place so much emphasize on appearance, often added pounds create a negative self-image resulting in depression and an overall lack of motivation to better their lives. When the money spent attempting to fix the health-related damages of obesity is added with that spent on our society's constant desire to be svelte, it equals a multi-billion dollar weight-loss industry. People will go to extremes to lose weight; attempting things like, juice fasts, life-threatening diet pills, fad diets, and exercise binges.
But, despite the miracle-promising weight loss scheme introduced each day, people continue to gain weight at an alarming rate. Usually two things happen when they embark on the fad diet. First thing relates to loss of interest because the diet method or tool cannot fit into their everyday lives. Second, even if weight is lost, it eventually returns with a vengeance due to boredom or exhaustion with the weight-loss tool and/or program. So despite the miracle promises, the only proven, sure ways to lose weight and keep it off are a combination of exercises and combined monitoring of both calorie and carbohydrate consumption. Fitness experts recommend keeping a food diary to write down everything, as soon as it is consumed. There are also software programs and electronic adding machines to count the number of calories if one knows the content of the items consumed. Unless there is a visible, constant reminder throughout the day, these tools won't be utilized. In order for a weight loss tool to be successful in this fast-paced, image-driven society it must adapt to people of different lifestyles and fashion tastes, at different stages of their lives; promote health and discipline without resulting in extreme deprivation.
Various dieting devices and methods have been taught by the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,338,202 to Saari; 5,382,165 to Knox; 5,915,854 to Burke et al.; 5,796,640 to Sugarman et al.; and 6,341,295 to Stotler. One such example, disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,202 to Saari, teaches a planner having a foldable carrying case with a plurality of pockets and pocket inserts, or meal insert cards on and in the inside walls of the carrying case. Each meal insert cards identifies a specific meal type such as, for example, a dinner or a breakfast. A plurality of food cards each listing one specific food within a food exchange and displaying a picture of either the approximate or visual serving size of the food. A user selects the food cards each listing one specific food and places them in the pockets for the type of the meal. One of the prime shortcomings of the aforementioned calorie counting devices is their unattractiveness and blatant purpose. Most people today simply do not want to advertise the fact that they are dieting, let alone wear an unattractive numeric-indicator or planner for displaying the thousands of calories consumed in a day.
Alluding to the above, a bracelet, taught by the U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,415 to Grant, tried to solve the aforementioned problem. The bracelet includes sliding attached beads, intermittent “summing” beads, and a printed plastic wallet card that indicates the bead values for commonly eaten foods. The beads are assigned a value of 100 calories per bead and are subdivided into groups of summing beads. For every 100 calories consumed, one bead is moved across the bracelet. The bracelet taught by the U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,415 to Grant does not prevent the backwards and/or forward movement of beads, which results in uncontrolled movement of the beads through strenuous exercise or daily routine. In addition, the bracelet is unattractive and does not work with every type of outfit for a variety lifestyles. In addition, a tracking space defined between the beads is about half on an inch, which results in an unpleasantly looking bracelet.
But even, if it is practicable, it would be desirable to provide an improved bracelet or a cuff that fully prevents the backwards and/or forward movement of beads, thereby controlling “bead slide” created by through strenuous exercise or daily routine. It would also be beneficial to present an attractive accessory to work with every type of outfit for variety of lifestyles.